I remember walking into my mom’s bedroom as a little 10-year-old, seeing her watch the new episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy” and her promptly telling me to get out of her room, as every good mother would to a 10-year-old watching “Grey’s Anatomy.” She was the biggest fan of the show until they killed off Derek Shepherd, also known as McDreamy, everyone’s early 2000s celebrity crush. But let’s be honest, he’s still everyone’s celebrity crush. She was so angry at the show for killing him off that she hasn’t watched it since. But to me, this show depicted what being a grown up was supposed to be like. I think that’s one reason I’m obsessed with it.
I started watching “Grey’s” as a junior in high school. I began with season one out of 17 and have since watched all 17 seasons five times through. I’m very invested in this show. The characters. The hospital. The drama. It’s my feel-good show.
“Grey’s Anatomy” is now the longest running medical TV show in all of television, and there’s good reasons for that. It captivated me and sucked me in. You can usually catch me at 11 p.m. watching season two or three or whatever season I’m currently on for the fifth time. At this point, the show is predictable, which brings comfort and doesn’t require any brain power when watching it.
As any “Grey’s” fan would tell you, the older seasons are the best seasons. They bring back the nostalgia of the early 2000s: the low-rise jeans, the side bangs and the band The Fray. To top it off, it all hangs on the scenery of Seattle, Wash., with the drama and romance that comes with any soapy TV show.
Meredith Grey, the main character, is what I would be like in my dreams, excluding all the boys, the alcohol and the extreme depression. The fantasy of being a surgeon who walks into the O.R. and commands the room is one that I’ll always have. Imagine the flex it would be at dinner parties and get-togethers. But I realized very soon into my first college science class, I hate science, math and long amounts of school and would fail miserably at anything in the medical field. So “Grey’s Anatomy” allows me to escape into my fantasy world of being a surgeon for an hour every time I turn on an episode.
I’ve laughed and cried and felt anger and suspense and heartbreak through “Grey’s.” I think that’s what makes it so special. A good TV show pulls every emotion out of you and leaves you wanting more and more.
I still remember the first time I watched that episode when Derek Shepherd, the love of Meredith’s life, died in a car accident. Yes, the episode that made my mom never watch this show again. It was like I was watching one of my best friends go through the traumatic loss of her husband. But that didn’t make me want to stop watching. I wanted to know what Meredith would do without her love. Would she find a new man? How would her children go on without a father? And the following six seasons continued to answer these questions I was left with after he died in season 11.
The day that “Grey’s Anatomy” finally concludes will be a devastating and surreal day. The show that made me feel like an adult and gave me my aspirational dream of becoming a surgeon will finally be finished.
That will be a day to remember.
